Strongest Wish
by Le-Pomeg
Summary: What if you lived your whole life, only to wake up one day and realize it was all just one long dream? Allen Walker has everything he could wish for; a loving family and a normal life...but is it real? Rated for very mild language...lol...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything…except the stuff I make up! :D

Note: This is my VERY FIRST story… please be nice :{

"Wake up please….just… just open your eyes…"

_What a sad voice…is she talking to me…?_

……………

BEEP BEEP BEEP

"Ugh…shut up already I'm awake…"

Allen Walker rolled over, reaching out to his desk to turn off his rather obnoxious alarm…

"Ugh…" he groaned, "It's 6:30 already? Damn…" Allen swung his legs out of bed and paused, "That dream again huh?"

Allen turned to the window beside his bed, pushing it open, he watched the morning birds fly past.

_I wonder what it means…that dream…I mean, I've been having the same one almost every night for two weeks…it must be significant…should I tell..? No…they'll laugh at me… I'm being ridiculous…dreams aren't real, that's why they're called dreams! But still…that girl…she sounded so sad…. I don't even know if she was talking to me…Oh well, a dream is a dream…It's probably best if I don't think about it…_

Allen pushed away from the window and glanced at his clock, 6:40…. "Oh shit…" he whispered.

BANG.

Allen jumped violently and tumbled off the bed as his bedroom door burst open, a girl with long brown hair stood in his doorway looking rather irritated.

"What the HELL Allen? You're still not awake? I swear, if we're late again because of you, you are WALKING home today!" she roared at the bundle of blankets on the floor.

"I get it, I get it! I'm up okay? I don't take as long as you to get ready, relax okay?" Allen said as he pushed the blanket off his head.

"Whatever, as long as we get there on time… If you're not ready and downstairs before 7 we're leaving without you!"

"And what makes you think Leo will be ready by then?"

"Leo has a presentation today, he was up before me! So you better hurry if you don't want to walk TO school as well."

"Alexis," a voice called up the stairs, "leave your brother alone, it takes more time for you to yell at him than it does for him to get ready, now come downstairs and have breakfast."

Allen stuck his tongue out at Alexis and grinned.

"Real mature Allen, real mature… Coming mom!" Alexis shot one last dirty look at Allen before shutting the door and disappearing down the stairs.

Allen smiled in spite of himself; he loved his brother and sister very much even though they picked on him to no end. Alexis and Leopold were fraternal twins three years older than Allen, making Allen the baby of the family, which he was frequently treated as despite his age of fourteen.

Allen sighed, and reached into his closet to throw on whatever touched his hands first. Allen wasn't really into fashion, or matching for that matter, that was Alexis' department. She often sent Allen back to change in the morning if his outfit did not meet her standards. However seeing as they were already late today, she was just going to have to deal with whatever Allen put on. Grinning, Allen pulled out a horrible combination of an orange and teal checkered sweater and khaki shorts.

Allen tugged a comb through his messy light brown hair a few times before deciding that bed head would piss Alexis off even more, and setting his comb down he grabbed his backpack off the floor and charged downstairs.

"OH MY GOD ALLEN WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!" Alexis cried as Allen entered the kitchen.

"Alexis, watch your mouth…Allen dear, why are you dressed like that?" Allen's mother walked over to him and attempted to comb his hair with her fingers.

"MOM! You CAN'T expect me to go to school with him looking like that! You're doing this on purpose aren't you Allen! Mom, do something!" Alexis whined.

"Allen love, please go put something else on…"

Allen glanced over at Leo sitting at the table and grinned. Leo grinned back over his glass of orange juice and gave him a thumbs up. Allen made a face at Alexis before running upstairs and swapping his sweater for a plain white T-shirt and his khaki shorts for dark blue jeans. He ran downstairs past the kitchen, towards the front door and began pulling on his sneakers.

"Allen! You are NOT going to school without breakfast!" His mother reprimanded, as she walked over to him with two pieces of toast. "Here at least eat this, you don't have lunch until 7th period right?"

"Thanks mom." Allen said as he quickly hugged his mother, grabbed his bag and ran out into the garage and hopped into the backseat of the black car. Leo walked out of the house and slid into the driver's seat, while Alexis climbed into the passenger seat.

The drive to school was usually uneventful. Allen absently looked out the backseat window at the trees flashing past. As the minutes passed, Allen began to feel drowsy, and his eyes drooped. The ride wasn't a long one, but Allen hadn't gone to sleep until very late the night before. Being the procrastinator he is, Allen left his homework until the last minute when he had to scramble to finish it before going to bed.

He listened as Leo drummed his fingers on the steering wheel in time with the music on the radio, and slowly closed his eyes…

"Allen! Wake up! We're at school! How did you fall asleep so quickly?" Leo poked Allen awake.

"Mmh..?" Allen yawned and methodically picked up his backpack and trudged off to class.

"Allen!" He stopped and turned, Alexis was waving to him, "I love you Allen!" she called.

Allen blinked and waved in acknowledgement before disappearing through the front doors.

"Lexi you are such a sappy chick…" Leo commented on his sister's behavior.

"Shut up Leo. Allen's still a baby!"

"No he's not, he's fourteen! That's not a baby."

Lexi grinned and elbowed her twin in the side before sprinting ahead of him to class. "Its presentation time Leo!" she called over her shoulder.

Leo rolled his eyes and followed her down the hall.

"Allen Walker, I'd highly appreciate it if you would pay attention?"

Allen jumped and turned to see the teacher standing before his desk, he smiled apologetically and nodded. "I'm sorry Mrs. Smithson…" Mrs. Smithson raised an eyebrow before turning back to the chalkboard and continuing the lesson.

"Geez Allen, what's with you today? You seem so out of it.." whispered the black haired boy sitting next to Allen.

"I know I know, sorry Jack, I…didn't get much sleep last night…" replied Allen.

"You don't have to say sorry to me, it's not like we learn anything in this class anyway…You'd probably still have an A if you skipped every class…"

Jack was Allen's close friend since the start of middle school, they had almost every class together and lived in the same neighborhood. Allen smiled and looked down at his notes, and began to copy what he missed the teacher saying. In truth, it wasn't just the fact that Allen didn't sleep much last night, he was also thinking about his dream. The only thing he could remember about it each morning was the girl's voice. He knew there was more to it, but it just slipped out of his grasp as soon as he opened his eyes. Allen scrunched up his face in an effort to remember the details of his dream, but only succeeded in getting a 'what are you doing?' look from Jack. Allen frowned to himself… "I guess there's nothing more to do about it…I'll try to remember better tonight..." he thought as he turned his attention back to Mrs. Smithson's lesson.

Little did Allen know, but this dream would turn his life upside down in a way he couldn't imagine…

Note: Once again, this is my FIRST…so uh… let me know if I've done something wrong... and I hope you like ;]


	2. Chapter 2

Hello again! I'm rather bored so… I'll probably update frequently lol… once again, I don't own anything but the shit I make up heheh…

Thanks for the review :D! I wasn't planning on a pairing, but if you want a specific one, I'd be happy to comply :} I don't have any preferences in my mind…

"..31…19…27..." Allen whispered as he spun the dial on his locker, and wrenched the stubborn door open. He pulled out the books for the last two classes of the day, stuffed them into his bag and shut the door.

"Allen! Oi Allen!" Leo called to his brother as he dodged the kids in the hallway, "Allen! I forgot to tell you, but Lexi and I are staying after school today for the musical so I can't take you home today unless you want to hang out here until we're done…"

"No no, it's fine, Jack said he could get me a ride home with his friend" Allen replied as he hoisted his bag over his shoulder.

"Oh good! Ok well I have to go! I have class in…oh shit…the bell…see you at home!" Leo rushed off in the opposite direction.

Allen watched him crash into several students before heading towards the cafeteria.

"See you tomorrow Allen!" Jack called out the window of a shiny red car. "Yea bye!" Allen waved back and punched in the garage code as the car backed out of his driveway.

Allen closed the front door and stopped suddenly. "What the hell..?" his vision swam before his eyes, and his world began to spin violently. Allen took a shaky step forward before his legs buckled under him pitching him forward. The ground rushed up to meet him and Allen's vision went black.

"ALLEN! Allen! Look at me Allen! Can you hear me! Allen! No wait! Look here Allen! Someone help!"

_Who's screaming…? What's wrong? I want to help…why are they…oh..right…that's me…I'm screaming.._

Allen opened his eyes and was met with a curious sight, several large blurred figures moved frantically about him and a bright light shone in his eyes.

_What's going on…? Who are these people…? What are they doing, I can't understand what they're saying…My head hurts… I just want to sleep, can't they be quiet…?_

Allen's eyes slid shut as a voice cried in his ear "NO! Allen no! Stay with me please Allen!"

_But I don't want to…_

"What time is it? 5:30! Why do we always end up staying so late?" said Leo

"Dunno..but I'm beat…I think I'll take a nap…Open the door Leo, I don't have my key today." Said Lexi

Leo pushed his house key into the lock and turned it until it clicked and the door swung open.

"ALLEN!"

Leo and Alexis were met with the sight of Allen lying facedown and motionless on the floor in front of the door, "Allen! Allen! Hey! Wake up! Are you okay! Lexi call mom and dad!" Leo shouted as Lexi disappeared into the kitchen and frantically began dialing their parent's phone numbers.

Leo carefully turned Allen over onto his back and lifted his shoulders, "Allen! Wake up buddy! What happened….Shit…Lexi! I'm taking him upstairs!"

Leo pulled Allen into his arms and lifted him up gently and swiftly carried the boy up the stairs and laid him down on his bed. Leo took off Allen's shoes and pulled the covers up to his chin as Lexi walked in.

"Mom and dad are on their way home now…what happened?" Lexi asked worriedly as she walked over to Allen's bedside and pressed a hand against his forehead.

"I don't know, but judging by where we found him, he must have passed out right when he got home"

"You mean he was lying there since 2:30?"

"Probably I don't know…Nothing like this has ever happened before right?"

"Not that I know of…Do you think we should call the ambulance?"

"No…not yet at least…let's wait until mom and dad come home…."

"Do you think it's because he was tired this morning…?"

"People don't just pass out from one night of no sleep… it's got to be more than that…"

"ALLEN! LEO! LEXI!" a cry came from downstairs. Leo turned and called to his mother and father to come to Allen's room.

"He seems okay…He doesn't have a fever, his heart rate is normal…breathing regular…he might have just been tired…" Allen's father sat back after checking Allen's vitals. He looked to his twins and asked "Did Allen mention anything to you two? Did he say he felt sick or anything?" Leo and Lexi shook their heads in unison. Allen's father turned back to look at his youngest son, who appeared to be sleeping peacefully. Allen had always been a healthy child, no chronic illnesses, no allergies, nothing. His father could not think of what could have caused this aside from fatigue and stress.

Allen's mother sat down on the side of his bed and squeezed her child's hand. Allen was her baby, and she wanted nothing more than for him to be happy and healthy. The phone call from Lexi saying that something was very wrong with Allen almost stopped her heart. It was all she could do to drive home properly.

"Okay everyone, out, let Allen rest…He'll be fine." Said Allen's father as he ushered the twins out the door, "Should we call the doctor just in case?" asked Alexis.

"Let's wait for him to wake up before we do that, it's probably easier to figure out what's wrong when we can ask him for ourselves." Answered her father.

"Mmmh…" Allen rolled over, and slowly opened his eyes, "what…?" He jerked upright and looked around to see Leo slumped over in a chair next to his bed evidently watching over him, but failing. Allen glanced over at his clock, 2:35 A.M.

Ugh..how long have I been asleep..?

Allen put his head between his knees and gripped his hair trying to ease the crushing pain in his head.

"Ugh…" he grimaced. Leo stirred and lifted his head, "…Allen…? Allen! Allen what the hell happened earlier! Are you okay!" Leo jumped up and began ruffling Allen's hair and tugging on his arms. "Stop…st-stop…stop it! I'm okay! Just…my head just hurts…"

"Eh? Oh right..sorry…but.. what happened there buddy?"

"I… I don't know…"

Allen looked away, but was aware that Leo continued to watch him.

"Listen," Allen began, "I've…I've been having this weird dream for a while…" Allen paused at the look on Leo's face, "No I'm serious Leo! Don't look at me like that! I'm not crazy! I've been ignoring it for a long time because I thought it was just a dream, but I'm not so sure anymore…"

"What do you mean you're not so sure anymore…You think it's like a vision or something?"

"No, not really…I never see much…I just hear voices, but it's all dark"

"Allen…I don't know about this…what did you hear?"

"Just a girl's voice…I don't know if she was talking to me…but if she was, she kept telling me to wake up, or open my eyes or something…I don't remember much about it…but when I," he paused, "when I er…passed out, I had sort of the same dream, except it was a lot longer… I saw a lot of big dark shapes, but I couldn't tell what they were, I think they were people…and the same voice and some others kept calling to me…" Allen looked at Leo, "Does it mean something?"

Leo turned to his little brother, "I don't know buddy…I mean, you said it was just a dream right? I don't know…I'm not good with these kinds of things…" he sighed, stood up and stretched, "no point in worrying about it now, are you okay? Do you want anything? Mom said to keep you home from school tomorrow…"

"Yeah…no I'm fine…thanks…"

Leo gave his brother a concerned look, "Are you sure? Okay, well I'm going to bed now…call me if you need anything.."

Allen nodded as Leo walked out of the room and quietly shut the door.

_What's happening to me…?_

:O

Thanks for reading :} I'll have more chapters coming out soon, so look forward to it :D! let me know if there's anything you want to add to it, I'm always open to suggestions to make my story better! –much love- :D


	3. Chapter 3

Waaah! Thank you for the reviews! They are much appreciated :} I'm glad you like it so far! I'll see what I can do about the pairing….i'm not good with pairings, nor am I into guyxguy LOL… we'll see, I didn't have any pairings in mind though… anyway, on to new chapter!

Once again…I own NOTHING but shit I make up, which so far has been a lot…heheh…

Also I'm having issues creating a-what you say…transition? So if this chapter sucks, I apologize beforehand… sometimes my brain farts implode my imagination o_o….And I've been trying to set a fast pace to the story, so as not to make you all bored, but if I'm going too fast or not fast enough…do tell _…..

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Allen lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Upon his mother's insistence, he stayed home from school to rest. Turning his head slightly he checked the time…9:38 A.M.

"You'd think I'd sleep in a little…" Allen thought aloud.

Allen covered his eyes with his arm, he slept well enough after his talk with Leo last night. No dreams, just a well needed night of sleep. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and looked out his window; nothing unusual, just a quiet empty neighborhood. Everyone was either at school or work, there was no need to be outside. Allen watched a stray cat walk by, then swung his legs out of bed and stood up quickly only to be overcome by a sudden bout of dizziness. He quickly grabbed onto his bedpost to steady himself. Allen closed his eyes, took a deep breath and counted to ten.

"Maybe I'm just sick…People get sick right? Yeah, but no one passes out like that…or has weird dreams…" Allen sighed and ran a hand through his brown hair absently. Looking in his mirror, he saw nothing out of the ordinary…light brown hair, grey eyes, light skin. Not even a bruise, scrape or discoloration, nothing to hint towards an illness of any sort.

"I must be going insane," Allen said as he looked down at his hands. Allen looked back up at his reflection and did a double take. "What the hell!" It was him alright, except his hair was snow white and he had a long bright red scar down the left side of his face. An inverted pentacle above his eye followed by a jagged line down his cheek, Allen blinked and it was gone.

_What was that…?_

Allen shook his head vigorously, "I'm going crazy…I need to STOP thinking about that dream…"

Allen's thoughts were scattered by a loud grumbling noise coming from his stomach. He grinned sheepishly, and hurried down to the kitchen to find himself some breakfast.

The rest of Allen's morning went by uneventfully, he watched some TV, played video games, caught up on the homework he didn't do the night before.

……………………………………………………………………………….

"ALLEN! ARE YOU ALIVE? WE CAME HOME EARLY TO MAKE SURE YOU DIDN'T DIE!" Lexi called as she burst through the front door.

Allen walked out of the kitchen with a popsicle in his mouth as Lexi and Leo entered the house.

"Thank you for your concern…" Allen remarked sarcastically and rolled his eyes.

Lexi grinned and ruffled his hair before going into the kitchen to hunt down a snack. Leo beckoned Allen closer and leaned in to ask, "Any dreams last night?"

"Nope…nothing…"

"Is that so…that's good then right?"

"I guess…"

"ALLEN!" Lexi yelled, "YOU ATE THE LAST POPSICLE!"

"Sorry…? Was it yours?"

"NO, BUT I WANTED IT! That's it, I'm going to go get more. Leo, keys now!"

Leo rolled his eyes at his bipolar sister and tossed her his car keys. Lexi deftly plucked them out of the air and raced out to the car.

Leo walked into the kitchen to find something to eat mumbling about 'annoying sisters'. Allen watched Lexi pull out of the driveway and speed down the street.

"So Allen, Jack gave me all the work that you missed today, but he told me that the teachers said that you should do it when you're well enough, and not to stress yourself out, but I said that you'd probably do it at the laaast possible moment because YOU like to procrastinate and watch TV before doing homework right? Hah! Oh hey we have ice cream! Cookie dough! Excellent…Hey Allen! You want some ice cream? Allen?" Leo poked his head out of the kitchen and saw Allen gripping the hallway table with both hands until his knuckles turned white. "Allen…?" Allen's arms were shaking violently and his eyes were squeezed shut. "Allen, hey…what's wrong?"

"N-nothing…I'm just…hold on…gimme a sec…I'll be fine…" Allen grimaced, the pain in his head was almost excruciating. Allen let out an involuntary gasp, as Leo looked on worriedly. "Allen, if you're not feeling well, you can say so…don't try to be all macho…do you want some medicine or something..?"

"NO! Just be quiet! It'll pass…" Allen shouted at his startled brother.

"….I'm just trying to help…"

"Well, you're NOT. So STOP IT!"

Leo frowned, and backed away from his little brother.

"Hey Leo…was that crack always there…?"

"What crack…?"

"That one…" Allen pointed to the ceiling, "Right there…in the ceiling…"

"Allen…I don't see a crack…"

"What do you mean? It's RIGHT THERE!" Allen jabbed his finger in the direction of a large jagged crack in the ceiling above their heads. It was about two and a half feet long, and half an inch wide and stretched almost halfway across the hall ceiling. Leo looked in the direction Allen was pointing, but only saw a smooth unbroken ceiling.

"Allen, maybe you should go back to bed…"

Allen stared at the crack, it was so obviously there…why couldn't Leo see it?

_Maybe I am going nuts…_

Allen turned and allowed Leo to lead him down the hall towards the stairs.

CRACK.

Allen froze, "What's wrong Allen…?" Leo asked. Allen didn't answer, he quickly turned around and watched in horror as the crack expanded and spiderwebbed across the ceiling and down the wall. A piece of the ceiling broke free and crashed to the floor making Allen jump violently. "Allen! What's wrong!" Allen pointed to the ceiling, "DID YOU SEE THAT! A piece of the frickin ceiling just fell!" Leo gave Allen a weird look, "No, I didn't see anything, the ceiling is fine, now will you get to bed?"

"NO! How can you not SEE THIS!" Allen yelled as he ran to the crack in the ceiling and peered inside. He saw a strange swirling mist of colors and shapes, Allen stared in awe. "What IS that?"

"Okay Allen, that's enough, you're starting to freak me out…I'm calling dad…" Leo rummaged in his bag for his cellphone as Allen continued to stare at the strange mist inside the crack.

"Hello? Dad? Yea, Allen's acting strange, he keeps talking about some crack in the ceiling…I think you should come home and see what's going on…Yea…okay, I will." Leo hung up the phone and turned to his little brother, "Allen, let's go upstairs." He took Allen's arm and steered him up the stairs and into his room. Leo pushed Allen into bed, "Dad's on his way home, he's going to take a look at you okay?"

Allen nodded impassively, his mind was on the strange crack.

_What the hell is going on? Am I really going insane? Are they going to put me in an asylum or something…? I've never heard of people seeing cracks that didn't exist in the walls…_

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"Allen, pay attention! Are you feeling lightheaded at all? Feverish? Chills?" Allen's father inquired as he tried to keep his young son's attention. Allen didn't really care about what his dad was asking him, he was more concerned that the enormous cracks now formed an ominous web across his bedroom ceiling and walls. It looked like only moments before the entire structure collapsed on itself.

"Dad I feel fine, but you really can't see the cracks?"

"No Allen, there are no cracks anywhere…" His father sighed, "Maybe it's psychological…" Allen's father was a doctor at a nearby hospital, and he could deal with physical illnesses, but if Allen's issue was psychological, which it appeared to be, his father could do nothing about it.

"No! I'm not crazy I.." Allen broke off and stared at his father in pure horror. "What is it son? What's wrong?" his father asked.

"You…your head…it's…." Allen's eyes widened as he stared at his father's head in which a large crack had formed down the middle.

"What is it?" Leo butted in. Allen turned his gaze to Leo and his jaw dropped, "Leo..you too.." Leo had several thin cracks down his face and shoulders. Allen squeezed his eyes shut and pounded on his head, "This is impossible, it's not happening…. MAKE IT STOP!"

"ALLEN! Get a hold of yourself!" Allen's father grabbed his wrists and pulled them away from his head to keep his son from further hurting himself.

"I'M HOOOOMEE! Hey why's dad's car here? DAAAD? ARE YOU HOME?"

"Alexis…obnoxious as always…" Leo sighed and left the room to deal with his twin sister. Allen watched with wide eyes as a chunk of Leo's arm cracked and tumbled to the floor. "Allen, look at me." Allen's father brought his attention back. Allen stared at his father, the cracks widened and spread down his chest and arms, he could clearly see the swirling mist inside the cracks.

_I don't like this…this can't be real… but I feel like something very bad is going to happen…_

"Allen? Baby what's wrong?" Allen's mother appeared in his doorway, "Leo and Alexis said you aren't feeling well?" Allen turned to his mother, and relief washed over him, there were no cracks on her body.

"I'm okay mom…"

"Are you sure?" She asked as she walked over to his bed and sat down next to him and pulled her child into a tight hug. Allen closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

_Mom's okay…she has no cracks, maybe I'm just imagining things…_

CRACK.

Allen's eyes snapped open and he pushed away from his mother, and to his horror saw a large crack running down the length of her face and neck.

"NO!" Allen buried his face in his hands and dug his nails into his skin, "THIS ISNT HAPPENING!"

"What's not happening? Allen! What's wrong! Please tell me!" his mother cried at his reaction.

"It's…it's almost like…almost like everything is falling apart…literally..." Allen whispered into his hands. His thoughts went back to his dream, and to what the voice had called to him. Allen shook his head violently, he thought that if he pressed his head harder and willed the cracks to go away, they'd disappear and he could be happy again. Allen slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the loving face of his mother. His eyes widened as he saw that pieces of her face and body were missing, and his father appeared to be standing on one leg with a third of his torso missing.

"NO!" Allen screamed at the top of his lungs, startling his parents. Leo and Alexis hurried into the room at the sound of his scream, "What's going on!" they cried in unison.

CRACK.  
CRACK.

CRACK.

Earsplitting cracks resounded around the room, Allen clapped his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, but it felt as if the cracks were echoing through his head. Allen opened his eyes to see his world, his life, everything and everyone he loved literally shatter in front of him. Allen opened his mouth in a silent scream as he was violently thrown into the swirling mist. A bright flash of light and his world went black.

Allen Walker opened his eyes.

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Whaaa! The suspense! You probably all know what's going to happen next LOL! I'm so predictable…anyway, I hope this chapter didn't suck horribly…I did my best, but when your imagination dies on you….you don't have much to work with _….anyway next chapter to come soon! :D look forward to it -much love- :}


	4. Chapter 4

Hello again! It's been a few days since I've written O_O! I've been rather busy… I apologize :P….anyway on to new chapterrr! Oh and just a warning, I'm going to be very busy from now on, so I may not update often, I hope you will still read though :) I'll do my best to update when I can. Once again, I own NOTHING but my made up shit…

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Allen walker opened his eyes and blinked a few times to clear his vision. He bolted upright as his memories of the events before he blacked out returned in a rush.

_MOM! DAD! LEO! LEXI! What happened! What was with all those cracks…the last thing I remember is…is everything just shattering…_

Allen looked around frantically and took in his surroundings. He couldn't see much at first, as the room was dark save for the soft chink of light coming from the door which was slightly open. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, Allen realized he was in a hospital room. He noticed that there was no window, and his bed had railings on it. There was a small table at his bedside and a plastic chair next to it. Allen took a calming breath and sorted out his thoughts.

_Okay, I'm in a hospital… Mom and Dad must have taken me to the hospital after I passed out…yeah…that sounds right..._

Allen looked around at the walls and ceiling, "No cracks," He whispered reassuringly to himself, "no cracks… everything is normal…" Allen cracked a small smile and turned his head towards the door at the muffled sound of people talking in the hallway. He winced at the movement, his head was pounding again. Allen reached up to scratch an itch on the side of his head, but stopped when he noticed he couldn't move his fingers. Allen quickly pulled his hands in front of his eyes and saw that they were encased in bandages to the point that it looked like he was wearing massive oven mitts.

"What the hell…?" Allen whispered as he examined his hands, "I don't remember doing anything to my hands…" Allen shifted a little in bed and felt something rubbing against his skin under his shirt, alarmed, Allen pushed his shirt up with his mitten hands a best as he could, and saw that his entire torso was also encased in bandages.

"Okay, this is getting a little weird…" Allen thought, "I need to know what happened…"

He carefully swung his legs out of bed and tested their strength, he felt weak, but not enough that he couldn't walk slowly. Using the furniture and walls for support, Allen headed towards the door. Halfway across the room, a large mirror against the opposite wall caught his attention. Allen squinted at his reflection, something wasn't right... Pushing off the wall, he stumbled towards the mirror.

"No…" he whispered softly, "no…it can't be" Allen scrubbed at his eyes with his mitten hands and looked again. His once light brown hair was now snow white, and his left eye was marred by a bright red scar. He looked exactly like the reflection he saw in the mirror a few days earlier, except this time, it was real. Allen backed away from the mirror shaking his head.

_What's going on…? That's not me, it CAN'T be!_

Allen turned and stumbled towards the door, he paused with a hand on the doorknob. Allen took a deep breath and wrenched the door open and froze.

There in the doorway evidently about to open the door as well, with a hand stretched out to grab the doorknob was a boy with red hair and an eye patch. The boy stared at Allen with one bright green eye, before his mouth cracked into a big smile.

"ALLEN!" he cried as he threw his arms around the smaller boy knocking him to the ground. "ALLEN ALLEN ALLEN! I can't believe it! You're finally awake! We all thought you'd never wake up!" He squeezed a shocked Allen and ruffled his hair.

_Who is this…? How does he know my name..? What is he talking about….? I've never met him before…have I?_

The boy continued to hug Allen and began to talk rapidly, Allen couldn't catch anything of what he said, his mind was still trying to figure out how he might possibly know this person.

"LAVI! Get off him! You're going to open up his wounds! Get off!"

The voice brought Allen crashing back to earth, "I know that voice…It's her! The girl from my dream!" Allen thought excitedly.

"Oh! Right….sorry Allen, I forgot…" Lavi quickly stood up and backed away from Allen.

Allen looked up to find the face of the girl whose voice he knew so well. His grey eyes met with the dark eyes of a tall girl with long black hair in pigtails. She smiled at him and offered Allen her hand to help him up. Allen stared at her and slowly lifted his mitten hand; she took it and pulled him up. The girl smiled sadly at Allen, "Welcome back Allen." She said. Allen couldn't bring himself to reply, he just continued to stare at her until he noticed tears in her eyes. Allen blinked; he was taken by surprise at her tears and was suddenly afraid that he might have done something to make her upset.

"Oi Lenalee, what are you crying for?" Lavi asked the girl. Allen tore his gaze from her face and turned to Lavi.

"Sorry…" Lenalee said, "I'm just so happy that you're okay" she smiled brightly at Allen, "We were all so worried."

"Oh! We should go tell Komui!" Lavi exclaimed before giving Allen a final pat on the head and dashing out of the room.

Lenalee turned away from Allen and flicked on the lights, she couldn't stop smiling. She glanced back at Allen, and noticed that he hadn't moved at all. He was just standing there looking at his hands. Lenalee poured a glass of water from Allen's bedside table and walked towards him.

"Here Allen," she said placing her hand on his shoulder, "drink some water." Allen jumped at her touch and instantly moved away. Lenalee frowned, "What's…wrong Allen..? Are you okay…"

Allen stared at the girl, she looked upset, he didn't mean to move away from her like that, it was just instinct. Allen took a deep breath, it was now or never….

"I'm really sorry…" he began, "but, who are you…?"

Lenalee froze, her fingers went numb, and the glass slid out of her grasp and crashed to the floor shattering. Allen winced at the sound and instantly regretted asking her the question. Lenalee looked distraught, she was on the verge of tears.

"It's me Allen, it's Lenalee…"

Allen shook his head. Lenalee stared wide eyed at Allen, "You don't remember who I am…?"

"No, I'm really sorry! I just…I don't know…Er…do you happen to know where my family is…?"

Lenalee's eyes widened even more, "Allen you don't…."

"My brother and sister, er…Lexi and Leo…?" Allen interrupted, "they're twins, they have light brown hair and grey eyes like me…and my mom and dad? My dad works at the hospital, we're at Silver Clearing Hospital right? Yeah, so he should be here somewhere…" Allen babbled on hoping to keep Lenalee from crying by talking to her.

Allen turned towards Lenalee, she was still staring at him wide eyed, Allen began to feel slightly uncomfortable.

"So er…do you know where they are? I'd like to talk to them…if that's possible."

Allen turned to the door at the sound of approaching footsteps. Moments later, a man wearing white with black hair walked in followed by Lavi and another boy Allen didn't recognize.

"Allen! You're awake finally! How are you feeling? Anything out of the ordinary? Feel weak anywhere? Lightheaded?"

Allen shook his head wordlessly, the man nodded approvingly, "You look okay," He paused catching the look on Lenalee's face, "Lenalee? What's wrong?"

Lenalee snapped out of her trance and turned to the three standing next to Allen, "Brother! We need to talk, you too! Lavi! Kanda! Let's go!" she said urgently and ushered the three out the door and shut it. Allen stared at the closed door, not quite sure what just happened.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Lenalee, what is wrong with you?" Komui reprimanded his younger sister in the hallway outside Allen's room, " I have to make sure everything is okay with Allen and.."

"Allen doesn't remember me." Lenalee said sharply.

"…What…?" Lavi said as he turned to stare at the girl.

"He doesn't remember me at all, and he probably doesn't remember any of you either!" Lenalee exclaimed, "He kept asking for people I don't know…."

"What do you mean, 'people you don't know'?" Komui questioned.

Lenalee lifted her face to look Komui in the eye and said, "He's asking for his family."

"Family?" Lavi said suddenly, "But Allen doesn't have any family…Well, not that we know of…"

"I know…He thinks he's at a hospital, he said his father works at a hospital….and he was looking for his twin brother and sister or something and also his mother…" Lenalee said worriedly, "I didn't know what to say to him…"

Komui scratched his head, "Are you sure he doesn't know who you are?"

"Positive, there was no recognition in his eyes… he really forgot us…" Lenalee replied sadly

"What do we do…?" Lavi asked, "Should we tell him that he has no family…?"

"….Why does he think he has family to begin with?" Kanda asked.

"….I think we should ask him!" Lavi said loudly, and barged back into Allen's room before anyone could stop him.

"I don't know if this is a good idea…" Komui thought aloud.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Allen sat on his bed, thinking about what had just happened.

_Why did they all suddenly run out of the room? What did Lenalee have to talk about…? I need to find mom and dad…I want to go home now… They are probably really worried about me…_

The door burst open making Allen jump, as Lavi marched over to him, "Who is your family Allen?" Lavi asked putting his face close to a startled Allen.

"Ummm…" Allen paused, "well, there's my mom and dad…and my big brother and sister…Alexis and Leopold…"

_Why is he asking me this…?_

Lavi straightened up frowning as Komui, Lenalee, and the boy Allen didn't know walked in after him.

"Allen where are we right now?" Komui asked him.

Allen gave the man a puzzled look and replied, "Silver Clearing Hospital right…? In New York? Er… the U.S.?"

The four of them looked at each other and frowned. Allen shifted his gaze to each of them before Komui spoke again, "Allen…I don't know a better way to tell you this…."

Allen looked at him confused, but waited for him to continue.

"Allen…you don't have a family…."

Allen's heart sank into his stomach area, "You're…you're joking right…?" He laughed nervously, "This is all a joke right…?"

No one offered him a reassuring smile or a pat on the back to tell him they were joking. Lenalee, Komui, Lavi and the boy with the long black hair simply watched him morosely.

_This is all some kind of sick joke….right…?_

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Oh how predictable of me! Heheh! I hope you liked this chapter! Do keep reading and reviewing :) your reviews are what feed my drive to keep writing :D! And sorry about the delay…but it might become a habit of mine…anyway, do tell me what you think!


	5. Chapter 5

Hello again! Yes I know its been a while…so uh.. I apologize if I've been keeping anyone waiting…lol which I doubt b/c idk how popular this thing is… but anyway, I actually started this chapter the day I posted the last one but then I hit a roadblock… I needed to think of what happened next LOL…anyway please review! It's what keeps me writing! Once again! I own nothing but what I make up myself! Aye Captain! Onto the story -salutes-

…

Allen sat alone on his bed with his head between his knees trying to sort his thoughts out. He felt bad about kicking everyone out of his room in an outburst, they were just trying to help. Allen just wanted to be alone. What Lenalee, Lavi and Kanda had told him was a lot to swallow, and he simply didn't want to believe it.

"_This is some kind of sick joke isn't it? Knock it off, it's not funny!" Allen shouted._

"_Allen," Lenalee pleaded, "please just listen to us…"_

"_NO I WON'T! YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE YOU!" Allen roared. He glared furiously at the three standing in front of him; Komui had left them to explain the situation to Allen, as he was called to attend to some other important matter._

"_What did you do to them?" Allen said softly, "What did you do to my family? Why won't you let me see them!"_

"_You don't HAVE a family. Stop making shit up." Kanda said angrily ._

"_Kanda! Shut up!" Lenalee reprimanded the older boy._

"_Listen Allen," Lavi began quickly, "you've been unconscious of almost three months, there was this big battle…and you were fighting the akuma by yourself, but there were too many…"_

"_You were almost dead when we found you!" Lenalee exclaimed tearfully._

_Allen's head snapped up to face them, "I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" he screamed, "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!"_

"_Allen…" Lenalee began, but Allen wasn't listening._

"_This is a dream, this is all a dream," he said to himself and looked up at Lenalee, "You were the voice in my dream! This must be just a dream!"_

"_Wait…you heard me!" Lenalee exclaimed, "Allen, that wasn't a dream! It really was me! I was talking to you! I knew you heard me! You even woke up once for a few minutes! Allen, you remember right!"_

"_NO!" Allen cried, "THAT WAS THE DREAM! YOU were the dream! This isn't real… I want to see my family…"_

_Lenalee and Lavi exchanged concerned looks._

"…_.Please leave…" Allen pulled his legs against his chest and rested his forehead on his knees, "could you please just leave…"_

_Lenalee looked as though she'd cry any minute, "Allen…I…"_

"_No…please, I just..I just need to be alone for a while…." Allen said softly._

_Lavi gently took Lenalee's arm and tugged her towards the door. Lenalee didn't want to leave Allen, but she let it go and allowed Lavi to steer her out into the hall. Kanda followed and snapped the door shut sharply without a word._

Allen lifted his head and looked at his cursed reflection in the mirror and glared at the apparition, willing it to go back to the face he knew. He refused to believe what Lavi and Lenalee had told him; he couldn't have made it all up, it was his whole life, there was no way anyone could fake something like that. Allen shook his head, "They're lying…I have to find everyone, they MUST be somewhere around here…" He thought aloud.

Allen stretched his legs towards the floor preparing to bolt out of his room in search of his family when a small voice in the back of his head froze him in his tracks.

_That would explain the cracks._

Allen stared wide eyed at the door without really seeing it. He had almost forgotten about the cracks, he had been so preoccupied with convincing himself this was a dream that he had involuntarily pushed the cracks from his mind.

_If they are telling the truth…and it all was a dream… that explains why everything broke before I woke up…because it wasn't real…_

"NO!" Allen shouted at himself, "I can't say that! If I admit that it was all a dream…then…that's like…I'm killing my entire family! I can't do that!"

Allen was furious with himself for even considering that everyone he loved, his parents, his brother and sister, didn't exist. His family meant the world to him, without them he didn't know what to do.

"That's it. I'm going to look for them. I KNOW they're here." Allen said determinedly to himself, and stood up straight and opened the door. He peeked out into the hallway, no one in sight. Lavi, Lenalee, and Kanda must have taken his words to heart and actually left. Allen sighed in relief, and walked quietly down the hall.

_This doesn't look like the hospital…_

Allen had been to his father's hospital on many occasions, and this place looked nothing like it. His hospital had pale green walls and a tile floor; this building had black walls and cement floor.

_Where the hell am I?_

As he walked on, he began to doubt that his family would be in such a place; strange paintings of clowns and other people hung on the walls every few feet. At the end of the hallway, Allen reached a fork, there was a hall leading to his left, and a winding staircase going down to his right. Allen shrugged and took the winding staircase. His logic was that there must be a lobby in this building, and lobbies are generally on the first floor, so might as well go downstairs right?

Allen peeked around the corner of the stairwell leading into the hallway to check if the coast was clear; no one in sight. Allen stepped out of the shadows and quietly crept down the hall, he didn't know where Lenalee, Lavi, and Kanda went, but he knew he didn't want to meet them right now. Allen dragged his fingertips across the wall as he passed numerous unmarked doors. The doors sparked his curiosity; generally the doors of hospital rooms had your name on it, or some kind of marking. He wondered what could be behind them, but brushed the thought aside thinking stubbornly that it was probably just another hospital room. Allen continued his fruitless search, all the while a nagging voice at the back of his mind repeated the same question like a broken record.

_What if they're not real?_

…..

_Back in Allen's Room_

Lenalee knocked softly on Allen's door, "Allen…? Can I come in?" no response, Lenalee sighed. "Okay, then just listen to me for a minute okay? I understand that you're mad, it's confusing I know…but you have to listen to us! We're only trying to help…I guess it didn't come out right earlier…" she trailed off, unsure of how to explain what she wanted to say.

"I know you said earlier that I was in your dream, but I want you to know that it wasn't a dream! That part was real! When you were unconscious… everyone thought you'd never wake up… I mean… you were in such bad shape, no one thought you'd survive… no one said it out loud, but I could see it in their eyes…no one believed in you. I did though! I knew you'd get better, just like you always do. Then once you woke up we'd all laugh about it, and we'd have a party…and you'd eat a mountain of food like always…" Lenalee smiled to herself.

"I knew you'd be okay, that's why I'd always come to your room and talk to you. I'd tell you about all the missions I'd been on, things that happened here at headquarters… I knew you could hear me! And a few times you actually woke up! I was so excited! I knew it was working…but then you'd always fall asleep again…"

Lenalee paused, listening for any response from the boy inside; nothing. Lenalee frowned, "Allen, I'm coming in okay?" she turned the doorknob and pushed open the door. The room was dark, but Lenalee could already see that something was wrong, she quickly flicked on the lights and saw that Allen was missing.

"No…LAVI! KANDA!" she cried and tore down the hallway looking for the two boys. Lenalee knew the dangers lurking around the Black Order Headquarters, and for someone like Allen who didn't know where he was, not to mention injured, he could quite possibly end up dead. Even some of the exorcists unexpectedly ran into trouble now and then. Lenalee's mind raced as she tried to think of where Allen would go, she knew he was most likely looking for his family, but where would that take him? She turned the corner at the end of the hall and almost crashed into Lavi and Kanda as they ran to the sound of her cry.

"Ouch! Lenalee! What's wrong? Are you okay?" Lavi asked quickly. Lenalee paused, crouching over she tried to catch her breath, "Allen's…" she gasped, "Allen's gone…"

"WHAT! What do you mean HE'S GONE!" Lavi yelled.

"I don't know! I don't know! I went back to his room to try talking to him, and I was standing outside his door talking for a while…I just thought he was mad and didn't want to answer, but when I opened the door, he was gone! I don't know how long he's been gone!" Lenalee cried desperately.

"That stupid bean sprout is going to get himself killed if we don't find him." Kanda muttered irritably.

"Where the HELL could he be going!" Lavi asked loudly

"I think he's trying to find his family…he doesn't believe us that they're not real!" Lenalee answered.

Kanda swore loudly, "That damned brat just can't get it in his head can he?"

"Okay, we need to split up and find him! Whoever finds him bring Allen back to his room right away!" Lavi instructed.

The three of them split up and ran in opposite directions to search for the boy.

Lavi ran down the hall until he reached a fork, to his left, another hall, and to his right, a staircase going down. Lavi pondered as to which way Allen would go, after a moment of thought, Lavi took the hall to his left and charged down it at full speed.

_I hope he's okay…_

…..

Okay! That's enough for now! I'll try to update, but I'm really busy now :( unfortunately…I'd much rather do this all day hahaha…I hope you liked this chapter! Do review! Your reviews are as important to me as food is to Allen's tummy! :P


	6. Chapter 6

Hello again ;] its er…been quite a while…sorry! I've been really busy lately, and I've had…sort of writer's block…I'm not sure where to go with the story, if you have any ideas let me know! My imagination has been stunted…lol…I'll do my best for this chapter though! I hope you like it….and of course, I own nothing of except what I make up, which is of no value whatsoever… also if I get the setup of the headquarters wrong, I apologize, it's been a while since I've read/watched …my memory is a litte shot lol…

…..

"Allen! Allen! Come here darling, you'll get hurt if you go there!" Allen's mother called to a five year old Allen who was bravely trying the high monkey bars for the first time.

"No mama! It's okay! I can do it! Watch me!" the child cried back.

"Allen," his mother said reprovingly hands on her hips, "Allen, I'm going to count to ten. One. Two…"

Allen pouted and grabbed the first bar and hopped off the ladder. He swung his small body forward and reached for the next bar, but quickly realized there was no way he could reach it. Allen gripped the bar with one small hand and dangled for a moment before to his horror his fingers began to slip.

"Mama!" he cried desperately while clutching the bar.

"Allen!"

Allen's grip loosened and the bar slid out of his grasp and he cried out as he felt himself falling.

THUD.

"Geez Allen, you just had to try the big kid bars didn't you?"

Allen opened his eyes, he was sitting on top of Leopold who dove in at the last moment to break his little brother's fall.

"Leo!" Allen's eyes widened, and he threw is short arms around Leo's neck. Leo winced and laughed as their mother hurried over to the two boys.

"Allen Walker! I am very disappointed in you! You could have gotten seriously hurt!"

Tears welled up in the little boy's eyes as he began to cry, "I'm sorry mama..." he said as he scrubbed at his eyes with his jacket sleeve. His mother's face softened, and she scooped her baby up into her arms and cuddled him close.

"It's okay baby, mama's just worried about you, mama doesn't want to see you get hurt. I'm not angry, I promise."

"Promise?" Allen sniffed.

"Promise," she replied, "now let's go home to Lexi and daddy and get ready for dinner okay?"

"Okay." The boys chorused.

…

Allen jerked back to his senses and stopped walking. How long had he been walking? Allen lost track of time and just followed where his feet were taking him. He let his mind wander back to his childhood, he didn't know why that particular memory came up first, but it had been so vivid a memory that he crushed all possibility that it wasn't real.

_There is no way I made that up…how could I make up something so…so REAL like that? I don't believe that._

Allen shook his head roughly, he missed his mother terribly. She was such a kind, loving woman and he could not wait to see her again and tell her that he loved her. Allen looked around; he had absolutely no idea where he was. He vaguely remembered taking a few more turns in the halls and going down another flight of stairs, but all the doors and walls looked the same anywhere he went, it didn't seem to make a difference.

Allen could feel the dull ache of his wounds resurfacing after the effects of all his pain medications, no doubt, were fading. Allen sighed and pushed the ache to the back of his mind and focused once again on finding the exit to this maze, he was exhausted but refused stubbornly to admit defeat. Not that he had anywhere to go once admitting defeat, as he was hopelessly lost. Allen squinted down the hall and saw a faint glow in the distance. He blinked several times to ensure that he wasn't seeing things and began to walk slowly in the direction of the glow.

_What IS that..? That doesn't look like a lobby or anything…_

Allen continued to walk forward, at the end of the hall was an enormous pit that extended into the darkness below. Allen stared in awe, _did hospitals always have these kind of things?_ Allen leaned over the railing to see what was down there, but everything was swallowed up by the lack of any light. Allen backed away from the railing with his arms folded awkwardly across his chest. Something off to his right caught his eye, Allen turned; it looked like some sort of elevator.

"An elevator!" Allen said aloud, "thank God, this should take me to the first floor!" he walked over to it excitedly.

It appeared to be just a platform with control buttons, Allen peered at all the buttons, the labels didn't make any sense to him. After a few minutes search, a small round button on the far left of the control panel drew his attention, there was a little number '1' and letter 'H' next to it. Allen smiled and pushed the button with his mitten hands. He had no idea what the 'H' meant, but it probably meant 'Hospital' or something, right?

Immediately, the platform fired up and began to descend into the darkness. As the levels went by, Allen began to regret his choice to take the random elevator on the sheer presumption that it will take him down to the first level. The elevator itself was illuminated with small lights around the perimeter but nothing else was. He had trouble making out his surroundings; he could only tell he was moving down.

The elevator stopped suddenly, causing it's passenger to lose his balance and topple over. Allen pushed himself up to his knees and looked around. It didn't seem like he had arrived anywhere, there was no platform to get onto or hall, or even a door.

"Maybe it's broken….? Shit…if it's broken…how the hell am I supposed to get off here!" Allen thought in dismay.

"Allen Walker."

Allen felt an icy chill reverberate through the length of his body as his name was called. He stood up and turned around slowly to face who or what he had just awakened.

….

Lenalee raced down the hall calling Allen's name as she went. Wrenching open several door only to find empty rooms behind them.

_Oh Allen! Where could you have gone! The Headquarters is like a maze, there's no way you wouldn't get lost…And your wounds…_

"Lenalee?"

Lenalee turned sharply at the voice; Komui stood at the end of the hall with several files in one hand and his coffee mug in the other.

"Lenalee, I thought you and Lavi were looking after Allen? What are you doing here?"

"That's the problem!" Lenalee cried in exasperation, "Allen is missing! I left him for a little while, and when I came back, he was gone! I don't know where he went!"

"WHAT! He's escaped NOW! Why didn't you lock the door! Oh no…and one of my experiments just…escaped as well…"

Lenalee's eyes flashed dangerously, "What did you just say? Your EXPERIMENT ESCAPED!"

Komui laughed nervously, "Well yes, this one was kind of hard to handle…it just kind of slipped out while I was looking for some parts…"

"What exactly does this particular experiment do?" Lenalee asked with a dangerously calm voice.

Komui shivered and began to back away, "Well you see…this one is an anti-akuma weapon repair robot…and it uhh…doesn't quite work like I had planned, it sort of…" he trailed off.

"Well…? What does it do?" Lenalee asked, fury radiating from her form.

Komui laughed again nervously, now fearing for his life, "It sort of damages more than it fixes…" he mumbled quickly.

Lenalee's eyes flashed with rage and she threw her brother a withering look before charging back the way she came to warn Kanda and Lavi of what was loose in the building.

….

"LAVI! LAVI!"

The red haired boy turned at the sound of his name and saw Lenalee sprinting towards him. He shut the door to the broom closet he had opened in his search for Allen, and intercepted a breathless Lenalee.

"Lenalee, what's the matter? Did you find Allen yet?"

"No! But I just talked to Komui, and he said that one of his experiments escaped, and I'm afraid that it will find Allen before we do! With the condition he's in now, there's no way he can get away from that thing without getting seriously hurt!"

Lavi swore loudly, "How hard is it to find a little white haired kid in this place!"

Lenalee shook her head, "We need to hurry though, maybe if we can find the experiment first and take that out, we can see where Allen went…"

Lavi nodded, "Okay I'll go see if I can find that thing and you go tell Kanda."

Lenalee nodded once in response and sprinted back to where they had split up with Kanda. Lavi slapped his hand against his forehead, "This just keeps getting better…"

_Now if I were Allen-with-amnesia where would I go? Probably try to get out of this weird place…but that could take him anywhere…_

Lavi suddenly remembered the fork in the road back near Allen's room; he knew instantly that Allen had taken the stairs, he would try to get to the ground floor. Without another thought, Lavi turned and ran down the stairwell he had passed by before.

…..

Lenalee ran down the hall that Kanda had taken when the three of them split up. She slowed as she heard a great deal of noise coming from the far end of the hallway. Lenalee winced as she heard a painful grating, screeching noise coming from around the corner followed by a very familiar angry growl. She quickly turned the corner to see what had happened.

"Kanda?" She asked incredulously, Kanda was standing in the center of a demolished hallway with a smoking pile of metal chunks, screws and bolts.

"What?" Kanda said shortly as he sheathed his sword, "this thing pissed me off."

Lenalee stared for a moment then shook her head vigorously, "No no, that's good…I was just about to warn you about this…Komui's experiment had escaped." She explained gesturing to the smoking scrap metal, "and we were worried that it might have found Allen before us…"

"So you haven't found him yet?"

Lenalee sighed, "No, not yet…I don't know where he could have gone, it's not like he knows where he's going…he thinks he's at a hospital…"

Kanda rolled his eyes, "Whatever, let's just find him so I can go back to my own work." He walked back towards Allen's room and stopped halfway down the hall, "Are you coming or not?"

Lenalee frowned, "Kanda where are you going?"

"Stupid bean sprout is probably looking for an exit, so I'm going downstairs."

_Oh, of course…that's right…why didn't I think of that before…_

…

"Allen Walker."

Allen's jaw dropped as he turned to find the source of the voice. A creature, a huge creature stood before him in the dark. She, he assumed it was female from her voice, was incredibly tall and appeared to glow a faint bluish color. She appeared to be made of strange pale blue tentacles which joined at her head and covered her eyes.

"Allen Walker, you seem to be doing better. I am glad."

Allen continued to stare open-mouthed, his brain was not working properly to form words. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, this creature, one that he could not have imagined in his craziest dreams, was speaking to him calmly.

"Who ARE you?" Allen asked softly

She smiled, "I am Hevlaska, we have met before, but your heart does not recall."

"We…we've met before? I don't think so, I'd remember somethi—someone like you…"

She smiled again, "Just because you cannot remember something, does not mean it never happened. I understand what has happened to you more than you understand yourself."

"You know what's happening to me! Do you know where my family is! Where am I? What about all these weird injuries I have! And why is my hair white? And what about this scar on my face!"

"Patience child. You will have your answers in time, you already possess the answers to your questions, you simply must find them within yourself."

"But…Can't you just tell me?"

Hevlaska laughed softly, "Very well, I will answer one of your questions, the rest, you must find out for yourself."

Allen paused, he only got one question, what should he ask? But before Allen could even decide on an answer; Hevlaska's pale tentacles reached out to him and wrapped themselves gently but firmly around his torso and limbs, lifting the boy into the air. Allen cried out in surprise and struggled against her grip, but found no way to get out. Allen squeezed his eyes shut in fear, and waited for something to happen. He felt a gentle knock against his forehead, and Hevlaska's voice close to his ear, "50%...75%...82%...94%...94% synchro rate. It appears your abilities have increased from the last time I examined you.

Allen opened his eyes, "I…I don't understand…"

"You will eventually. Now what is your question?"

Allen took a deep breath and asked the burning question ever since he woke up, "Is my family really just made up like everyone says?"

Hevlaska didn't answer immediately, then she began, "Yes. You do not possess a true family like the one you seek."

Allen felt his heart sink through the floor, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He didn't want it to be true, but he knew that Hevlaska was not lying. Allen felt his world fall apart again, he thought his very heart would break into pieces.

"But…then…how is it that I know them so well? I have memories of my childhood with them! I can't have made that up! I lived my whole life with my family!" Allen choked as he felt a thick knot forming in his throat.

"Allen child, before you fell unconscious, your body had gone through a great deal of stress and accumulated a significant amount of damage as you can no doubt tell by your current condition. In order to completely heal, your body forcibly shut itself down. And with the help of the exorcists and doctors, you have healed a considerable amount."

"Then what about my family! This has nothing to do with my family!"

"Patience, healing is not just for the body, but for the mind and soul as well. Your subconscious drew on your strongest desire; that which you wish for above all else, and made it into a reality to heal your mind and soul. In order to keep you safe and away from the trauma that is your reality, your mind created a world that reflected what you wished for the most."

Allen felt his spirit crumple, he was never going to find his family again, he was never going to tell his mother he loved her, and he would never be able to thank Leo for always breaking his fall… His family, father, mother, Leopold, Alexis, none of them were real. He had made them all up through some twisted wish of his. He had thought they would always be by his side, and now he had to accept that they were never beside him to begin with.

"Then what am I supposed to do now! I have nothing! I don't remember anything! That fake world, that…that was all I had! What should I do now!" Allen cried out as tears splashed down his cheeks.

"That is for you to decide Allen Walker, your friends will be by your side to help you, but you must rebuild your memories with your own will."

She gently lowered the boy onto the elevator, where he sat unmoving.

"Your friends are searching for you Allen Walker, go to them now, they will help you."

Hevlaska pushed a button on the control panel, and the elevator began to ascend through the dark pit. Allen sat quietly in the center of the elevator where Hevlaska had set him down, the elevator stopped at the level where he had been before, but Allen remained where he was. He didn't want this, he knew now for sure that his life, and everything he knew was a dream, and that this was reality. He knew, but he didn't want to accept it, he couldn't kill his family like that, but he didn't know what else to do.

"ALLEN!"

Allen didn't respond.

"ALLEN! Are you alright Allen! What happened? Say something!" Lenalee said anxiously.

"He doesn't look good, let's take him back to his room…" Lavi said quickly as he pulled Allen to his feet and pulled one of Allen's arms over his shoulder and wrapped his arm around Allen's waist and led him to his room.

Allen sat on his bed as Lenalee looked on concernedly, "Allen what's wrong? Did something happen? Are you okay?"

Allen mumbled something incoherent. Lenalee glanced at Lavi who shrugged. Kanda stood in the doorway watching impassively, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he was also worried about the young exorcist.

"Allen I can't hear you, what did you say?"

"You were right… you were right…they don't exist, THEY DON'T EXIST!"

Lenalee was taken aback by his sudden outburst. "Allen…I'm sorry…"

"I don't know what to do anymore Lenalee! I can't remember anything! I don't know who I am; I don't know what I'm doing here! I have NO real memories! My whole life! Everything I know and remember, THAT was the dream…THIS is real…"

Allen paused, "I need to be alone for a little bit…. I just need to think…"

"Allen I don't think that's a good idea…" Lavi said quickly.

"No, I promise I won't go anywhere… I have no one to look for anymore… I won't leave…you can lock the door if you want…I'm not going anywhere…"

Lenalee stood up, "We understand Allen, we'll be nearby, so just call us if you need anything, I'm going to lock the door okay?"

She pulled Lavi to the door and pushed the two boys into the hall before slowly closing the door, "Allen…I'm sorry…" she whispered as she shut the door with a snap. Allen heard the door lock with a soft click and footsteps died off in the distance leaving him alone in the dark to think.

…...

DONE FOR NOW! Sorry it took so long…I didn't really know how I was going to do this chapter, so I delayed it for a while…and I'm obscenely busy these days…I hope you liked it! Assuming I still have readers lol…Please do give me some ideas for what you think I should do next, I'm not entirely sure what would be good from here… And thank you for reading :)


	7. Chapter 7

Hola! Once again, I am extremely slow in adding chapters…but I'm trying when I get some free time … So I hope you like this chapter, please review! Also I recently saw Inception, which was a fantastic movie, I highly recommend it…but I realized that it was kind of similar to this story, in the sense of people living alternate lives in their dreams..lol… Also I realized as I wrote, this chapter is really fast paced, like…faster than I had expected…and it's going in a rather different direction…so er…sorry if it sucks…

…..

"Turn around?" said the Head Nurse as she removed Allen's bandages.

Allen complied silently, he hadn't left his room since his encounter with Hevlaska. He didn't feel much like socializing with anyone, and it seemed that everyone could tell, and respected his wishes. He knew it wasn't fair of him to be so reclusive, when Lavi and the others were just trying to help, but they couldn't possibly understand how he felt. He stared blankly at the wall as the nurse changed his bandages, his body was healing steadily, but his heart was as broken as ever.

The Head Nurse straightened and looked down at the child she knew to be such a cheerful boy; the devastated expression on his face filled her with sadness, she didn't know what had happened to Allen that hurt him so badly, but she wished she could do something to erase it.

Sighing, she softly combed her fingers though his white hair and silently left the room.

Allen laid back and rolled to his side; he knew it would take a while before this reality sunk in. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes focusing on the last time he saw his mother. Allen knew it was wrong of him to wallow in his memories, but he couldn't help it, he had nothing else. He didn't know what to do from here.

Within seconds, he had fallen asleep without realizing…

"Allen, I love you." His mother smiled gently at him.

"Mom… I miss you…" her smile widened, and she held her arms out to him. Allen stumbled toward her, but stopped abruptly when he felt his feet hit water. Allen looked down, he was standing at the edge of a wide river, his mother was on the other side and he just had to cross the river to be with her.

"Allen, I miss you too, but you can't keep coming here."

"I know I know…but I don't want to forget you…" He took a step forward.

"You don't have to. Even though we may not be real, but your memories of us are. Your time here might have been fabricated by your mind, but it felt real didn't it?"

Allen nodded at the ground slowly.

"The life you lived with us was something you wanted above all else, and your subconscious gave you that gift to compensate for your harsh reality," his mother continued, "but just because that was not reality, doesn't mean we won't be by your side anymore."

"That's right buddy," Allen looked up, Leo had appeared next to his mother and was addressing him, "you know, we'll always be one strong concussion away!" he laughed as Alexis and his father appeared next to them.

"Allen," his father spoke, "you must now try to remember your true life. Do not forget about those who care for you, they love you just as much as we do."

"You're right.." Allen straightened and stepped away from the river, "I do have a family…and…they need me too! I won't forget you ever…but I can face my life now…"

His family smiled at him as they slowly faded away, and the river disappeared.

Allen Walker opened his eyes. Tears were running down his cheeks, he pushed himself up and scrubbed at his eyes.

_Stop crying Allen… What if the others see you crying like a baby?_

Allen took a deep breath and willed himself to stop. He knew what he had to do from here, walk forward, like he always did. He didn't remember much about his life, but one name and face came back to him almost as if he had never forgotten…

"Mana..." he whispered.

…

"Brother?"

"Hmmm…?"

"Brother I'm worried about Allen, he doesn't seem to be getting any better…" said Lenalee as she straightened a teetering pile of papers on Komui's desk.

Komui took a long sip of his coffee before answering, "I think it will take a little more time for him to adjust…It is probably difficult for us to understand, but Allen has forgotten everything about us, and his life…He needs some time to remember…"

Lenalee sighed and continued to help Komui sort his documents. Komui stood up and gently took the pile of papers from his little sister, "Lenalee, I will take care of this, why don't you go and see what Lavi and Kanda are doing?"

Lenalee smiled and nodded, and quickly left the room. She found Lavi and Kanda in the cafeteria, bickering as usual. She sat next to Kanda who was trying to eat his food, while Lavi sat on the other side of the table continuously picking on Kanda.

"Hey Yu! When's your next mission huh? Wanna go on a mission together? Eh? I just got back from one yesterday. You haven't been doing anything have you? You always eat the same thing every day, that's not good you know, variety is good once in a while. Here have some pudding! Pudding is good! You don't ever eat anything sweet!" Lavi shoved a cup of pudding in Kanda's face, "Come on Yu! Its good!"

Kanda twitched, "STOP. CALLING. ME. YU. I don't want your damn pudding!" he pushed the pudding out of his face.

Lavi laughed and turned to Lenalee, "Hi Lenaleeee! I thought you were helping Komui in his office? Are you okay?"

Lenalee looked up, " I'm fine, I'm just worried about Allen, he doesn't seem to be getting better…I don't know what to do to help…"

Kanda slammed his chopsticks on the table, causing Lavi and Lenalee to both jump, "That. Damned. Brat. He needs to get over himself!"

Kanda stood up suddenly and stormed out of the cafeteria and down the hall heading towards Allen's room. Lenalee and Lavi ran after him, "KANDA! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO! DON'T HURT HIM!" Lenalee cried as she chased after the fuming exorcist.

"HE COULD DO WITH A GOOD PUMMELING!" Kanda roared back charging towards Allen's room.

Kanda kicked the door open without bothering to unlock it, and ran at the startled boy on the bed. He grabbed a fistful of Allen's shirt and lifted him to eye level.

"You stupid little bean sprout, you need to GET OVER YOURSELF and STOP sulking all day! Whining and crying like a baby over a make-believe family! You make me SICK! All you ever do is think about yourself you damned bean sprout, making everyone else worry! GET. OVER. IT. Or I'll send you to your dumb family myself!" Kanda roared as he drew back his fist.

"KANDA!" Lenalee yelled as she grabbed his hands and pulled him away from Allen, "Allen are you alright?"

"…not…na…e…all…n" he mumbled.

"What…?"

"THAT'S NOT MY NAME! THE NAME IS ALLEN DAMMIT!" Allen shouted as he pulled back a bandaged fist and slammed Kanda in the face with a punch, knocking him backwards.

Lenalee and Lavi stared in shock; a furious Allen stood on his bed with both hands clenched into fists glaring daggers at the boy sitting on the floor in front of him.

"Now that's more like it bean sprout." Kanda said as he rubbed his chin where Allen had punched him, he stood up just as Allen vaulted off the bed and pulled his fists back to punch again.

Lavi and Lenalee backed away slowly as a raging fight began between the two boys.

"Allen seems to be getting better…" Lavi commented.

Lenalee grinned, "We should probably break them up before they kill each other…"

With much effort, they were finally able to pull Kanda and Allen away from each other stopping the destruction of Allen's room.

Allen sat back breathing hard, he felt much better, though he had no idea why Kanda pissed him off so much, his guess was that he had always been like that with him. Allen smiled, he was going to work hard at remembering everything he had forgotten.

Lenalee leaned forward to look at Allen's face, "Are you feeling better?"

Allen answered with his eyes closed, "Yes, I am, thank you…You guys are right, I have to let it go, I can't sit around whining all day! I'm sorry I made you worry…"

"About time…" Kanda mumbled.

"SO! Does that mean we all can go on a mission together! Just like old times!" Lavi asked cheerfully.

"Like hell I'm going anywhere with you." Kanda retorted.

"Awww don't be like that Yu!"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Kanda whipped out Mugen and took a violent swipe at Lavi, who danced out of the way and ran out into the hallway.

Allen turned to Lenalee, "Lenalee, I'm going to work hard to remember everyone. Will you help me?"

"Of course Allen, we'll always help you."

…..

_A few days later…._

"Allen, watch closely, this is how you activate your innocence." Lenalee activated her innocence as Allen watched carefully.

"So, now you try."

With the help of Lenalee and Lavi, Allen was quickly re-learning how to fight akuma and use his innocence. He found that most of what they asked him to do was easier than he first thought. He came to the training room eagerly every day and devoured what Lenalee and Lavi taught him.

Allen flopped down on his bed later that evening, they had been training all day and he was exhausted. Lenalee had told Allen that the innocence in his arm was a parasite type, so it would probably make him more tired than usual. He grinned at the ceiling, Komui had said that he would be set to go on a mission soon with Lavi and Lenalee. Allen was excited; even though Lenalee had told him the kind of work the Exorcists do, he still wanted to see for himself. He knew it was dangerous, but he had been doing this for years…right? Allen reached up to his face and touched his left eye, Komui said his eye was cursed and allowed him to see the souls of akuma. He wasn't going to deny it, Allen was a little scared of what he was going to see.

Allen lay on his bed, absorbed in his thoughts when there was a loud knock on the door. Allen opened the door to be hit in the face with a little golden ball with wings and a tail.

"Ow…" Allen groaned as he massaged his forehead. He looked curiously at the golden ball which seemed to be staring back at him, thought it lacked anything that resembled eyes.

"…..Timcanpi…?" the name came back to him suddenly, "Timcanpi! Where have you been!" the little ball soared around his head and settled on his shoulder, it seemed happy. Allen smiled, it surprised him sometimes how suddenly he remembered certain things, like names and faces.

"We're going to go on a mission soon Tim! Komui said that some finders reported possible innocence in Britain!"

Timcanpi flapped its wings in response.

…..

"Okay, so I'm sure you know about the possible innocence in Britain right?" asked Komui, "I'm sending you three to check its validity, the finders say it might be innocence only from observation. They found evidence of battles with akuma, but no one in the vicinity seems to know anything. So just go to make sure, and if it is innocence, get it before the Earl finds out. Lavi, Lenalee, I'm counting on you to take care of Allen, it's his first time out since he woke up. Allen? Are you sure you're up to this? You could wait a while…"

"No no! I'm ready! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I've gotten much better at handling the innocence." Allen replied.

"Good, that's what I like to hear, don't push yourself though. Your wounds haven't fully healed. Okay, be careful, this could get dangerous…"

Allen, Lavi, and Lenalee turned to leave Komui's office and head out on their mission.

"LENALEE WAIT!" Komui cried.

"Yes brother?"

"….DON'T GET MARRIED WHILE YOU'RE GONE!"

Lenalee blinked and laughed, "If I do, I'll let you know!" she said mischievously.

"NOOOO!" Komui wailed as the three of them left the room.

…..

Allen stood on the tiny deck of the boat that was taking them to their destination. The weather had grown progressively worse as their journey went on; it had started pouring sheets of rain. The little skiff was having trouble staying afloat in the churning waters. Allen held the railings of the ship tightly, he was soaked through but didn't care, something about this situation felt familiar.

"Allen? So you were out here again, come inside, you'll get sick." Lenalee called to Allen, she stood in the doorway leading to the warm interior of their ride.

"Again?" Allen called back.

Lenalee stepped out onto the deck and walked carefully over to him, "Yea, the last time we were on a ship like this, you were standing in the rain."

"…I thought it seemed familiar…"

"Come inside, the weather is getting worse."

Allen let go of the railing and followed Lenalee inside the ship.

"Hey, Allen, listen.." Lavi approached Allen as he entered below deck, "I think you should stay back a little during this mission… I know you've gotten better at activating your innocence, but the akuma are very dangerous, and I don't think you're ready yet…"

Allen frowned, he didn't want to admit it, but he knew Lavi was right. There was no way that Allen was prepared to take on any akuma by himself, he had just re-learned what they were several days ago.

"But…won't I learn faster if I go fight them myself?"

"That may be, but I don't think we can risk you getting seriously hurt…as of now, you're not fully prepared to protect yourself, Komui let you come with us only because this isn't supposed to be a dangerous mission, and because Lenalee and I are here."

Allen sighed and looked away, Lavi had a good point. Allen had no idea how he'd protect himself, as far as he knew, he'd never been in a fight before. His body might remember, but he had no memories of ever fighting, let alone killing akuma.

"You should stay close to the finders, they'll be able to protect you enough." Lavi continued.

"Don't worry Allen, I'm sure your abilities will come back to you soon enough!" Lenalee piped in.

Allen couldn't help but feel a little useless, he waved his hand in acknowledgement and sat next to a window looking out at the raging storm.

"Allen, Allen…Hey Allen, wake up…" Allen jerked awake, he didn't remember falling asleep, "We're here Allen, let's go." said Lavi as he shook Allen awake. Allen leapt to his feet and followed Lavi out on the deck. The rain had caused a thick fog to form overnight, blanketing the town. Allen hopped off the boat and looked around in awe, it was his first time outside, and he realized just how different this world was to what he was familiar with from his dream.

"Allen! This way!" Lenalee waved to him. Allen turned and walked over to where Lavi and Lenalee stood with two other people, a short man and a tall woman.

"Allen, these two are the finders who reported the innocence, they will stay with you." Instructed Lavi.

The woman held out her hand, "My name is Victoria, it is nice to meet you Allen Walker."

Allen shook her hand and nodded. The man took Allen's hand next, "Allen Walker, I have heard a lot about you, I am called Revy"

"We should go take a look at the place you saw the akuma remains." said Lavi.

"Of course," one of the finders nodded, "right this way exorcists."

Victoria and Revy wore thick coats with hoods that partially obscured their faces, and carried large backpacks on their backs. Allen wondered what was in them, but he had a feeling they might find out soon enough, something about this place did not feel right.

The fog began to thin as the finders led the three exorcists through the maze of houses and buildings heading towards the battle site. It was early morning, and none of the citizens were out yet, as the exorcists slipped quietly through the fog, making as little noise as possible.

They stopped finally at the far edge of town, where the buildings were crumbling from age and disuse. Allen looked around curiously; he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. It was just a bunch of broken buildings and rubble that had eroded away with the wind and weather.

"Over here exorcists." Revy beckoned to the other side of a particularly large broken building. As they turned the corner, Allen felt like this was a little anticlimactic. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, just more rubble.

Lavi looked at the scene thoughtfully, and picked his way through the mess.

"Hmm… it does show some signs of a battle with akuma…doesn't look like there was a high level one though…"

"Well that's good then, that means not many people got hurt right?" Lenalee said hopefully.

"It is as Miss. Exorcist says," Victoria replied, "this location is far off from where people live, which is why we believe that the person who destroyed the akuma knew what they were doing, and led the akuma here on purpose to defeat them without hurting anyone."

"Smart…" Lavi mumbled, "so…assuming that this person IS and exorcist, and that this does involve innocence, whoever it is must have been fighting akuma for a long time…"

The finders nodded in agreement, "We should split up and search the town for any information."

"Right. Lenalee you search the part of town close to the docks, I'll search around here…Allen, you go with Victoria and Revy to the middle of town and see what you can get." Lavi instructed, "We'll use the golems to communicate"

….

"Waaahh…" Allen sighed as he sat down tiredly on the edge of the town's center fountain. They had been searching for hours, no one knew anything about the akuma or who might have destroyed them. Victoria stayed with Allen as Revy continued to ask around.

Allen leaned forward resting his chin in his hand, and watched as the small children ran around the nearby marked playing hide and seek. He wished the memories he had of playing like that with Leopold and Alexis were real.

"So…if this person who beat the akuma really does have innocence, what happens to them after we find them?" Allen asked Victoria.

"Well, they really have no other choice but to become an exorcist…"

Allen looked up, "And what if they don't want to be an exorcist?"

"There really isn't a choice for them, once the innocence is compatible with a person, if they do not join the order, the Earl will come for the innocence."

"Hmm…." Allen wasn't sure how they would force someone with innocence to join the order if they really didn't want to. Allen stood up and brushed the dust off his pants and walked towards the market to resume his fruitless search. Victoria followed him closely; Allen didn't really mind her presence, he just wished she wouldn't stick so closely to him, it wasn't like he needed help yet.

"Have you heard of any strange disturbances in town lately? Perhaps some unexplained disappearances?" Victoria questioned a squat man next to his fruit stall.

"Nope," the man said hitching up his pants, "can't say I have. Whattaya lookin for?"

"Nothing in particular, just wondering."

Allen stood off to the side as the finder interrogated the townspeople. He wondered if there were any akuma hiding amongst the civilians, Lenalee had explained earlier that the akuma are in the disguise of humans, and able to blend perfectly with society. Allen took a deep breath and scanned the crowds, looking for anything out of the ordinary and wondering at the same time if Lavi and Lenalee had found anything.

At the very end of the street, Allen caught a glimpse of a cloaked figure he hadn't seen before; the figure seemed to be watching him carefully. Allen grew slightly suspicious of the shadowy figure as he was certain that whoever it was, had been there for a while. After a quick furtive glance around, Allen confirmed that he was the target of this person's gaze.

_Maybe he knows something…Lenalee did say that exorcists are recognized by this uniform…_

Allen turned and began walking down the street; as soon as he took a step forward, the figure turned and disappeared into the crowd.

"HEY!" Allen called, "WAAIIT!"

"Allen Walker! Come back!" Revy called to him, "You mustn't leave our side!"

"I'll be right back!" Allen waved over his shoulder.

A woman standing at a nearby stall turned sharply upon hearing Allen's name, causing the boy to crash headfirst into her.

"Oww…" Allen leapt to his feet, "Oh! I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" he held out his right hand to the woman sitting on the ground.

"Allen…." The woman mumbled.

Allen blinked, "Yes…?"

The woman looked up, "Allen…" she repeated as she stood, "Do you know who gave you that name?"

The boy stared, "What…? Of course I…." he trailed off, he didn't actually know who really named him; his memories told him it was his mother, but he knew that to be wrong.

The woman smiled gently at Allen, and took his left hand while pushing the sleeve up to expose his disfigured arm.

"You've grown." She said simply, before dropping Allen's hand and disappearing among the stalls.

Allen stared blankly, his mind could not process what had just happened.

"Hey…wait…HEY! WAIT!" he cried, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'VE GROWN!" Allen ran desperately after the woman.

_She said I've grown, she knew me before…she must know my real family…my parents…she knows my parents…she knows my parents…_

"ALLEN WALKER!"

Allen jerked to a stop, and turned slowly, the finders raced up to him furiously.

"Allen Walker, you are NOT to leave our side again!" Victoria continued to scold him, but Allen was no longer listening.

_My...family…_

THUMP…

THUMP…

A white-hot flash of pain shot through Allen's left eye causing a cry to escape his lips. Allen pressed his hand against his eye; he was vaguely aware of the finders yelling something to him, but the pain was threatening to crush his head. Allen squeezed his eyes shut and collapsed to his knees.

THUMP…

_What is this…?_

Allen pulled his hand away from his eye; it was covered in blood. Revy grabbed Allen's arm and hauled him to his feet and began dragging him away through the crowd. Victoria quickly pulled out the golem which they were supposed to use to contact Lavi and Lenalee.

"Bookman! I think there's akuma around here, Walker's eye reacted to it. Should we try to find it?" she spoke rapidly to the small golem.

"No! You guys aren't that prepared…we weren't expecting this…" Lavi's voice echoed, "Bring Allen to the site where we saw the akuma remains! You can't just start a fight in the middle of town!"

"Very well, we will be there soon." Victoria quickly grabbed Allen's other arm and began dragging him to the outer edge of town.

Allen gasped in pain; blood was running down his left cheek like a steady stream of tears. He had no idea what was going on, but he wanted it to stop.

…

The young woman walked briskly away from where she had encountered Allen Walker. She wanted nothing more than to stay with him, but she knew now was not the time for that. Her heart soared with happiness, the heavy weight that had held her down for so many years had lifted. She smiled widely as she almost skipped through the maze of paths cutting through the town.

She stopped at a small Victorian style home nestled on a carpet of colorful flowers; skipping up the stone steps she quietly opened the door and stepped inside. The door snapped shut with a soft click, and the woman leaned against it and replayed the meeting with Allen that had just happened. She smiled as she remembered his face, and how he had grown so much, and his arm now seemed more a part of him than anything else. She savored the moment until a voice called from the top of the nearby stairs, interrupting her thoughts.

"Katrina is that you?"

Katrina frowned, as her mental image of Allen melted away, "Yes mother, I am home." She called back. Pushing away from the door, she headed up the stairs towards the sound of a steadily rocking chair. At the top of the stairs, a short hall extended several feet, and she slipped into the first room on her left.

A woman sat in a soft rocking chair next to a window bathed in sunlight, reading a book. She looked up at the sound of her daughter entering the room. She had long dark brown hair that fell past her shoulders, pale blue eyes, and a smooth face that contradicted her age; a face that was carbon copied directly onto her daughter.

"Katrina dear," she began as she set her book on the table next to her chair, "how was your trip to the market? Did you find everything that you needed?"

Katrina simply nodded; she couldn't say anything to her mother, who knows how she would respond to this news. The girl pulled off her cloak, and shook out her long hair.

"Mother, have you ever considered having another child?" she asked tentatively.

Her mother immediately stiffened, "No. Why do you ask?"

"No reason, you have me and James, but I wonder what it would be like with another sibling…"

"Do not speak of such nonsense Katrina, we are perfectly fine as we are now. There is no room in our hearts for another."

_I must tread carefully… she doesn't think I know…_

Katrina sighed and sat on the floor next to her mother's chair, "I met with William today."

Her mother's face softened, "Did you? How is he?"

"Fine…" the disappointment in her voice was evident.

"Has that boy asked you to marry him yet?"

"No… I was expecting it today though…Mother, do you think he doesn't want to marry me?"

"Of course not dear, any man who does not wish to marry you is crazy."

Katrina smiled, this seemed to lift her mother's mood, maybe now was a good time to mention this…

"…There's something I need to talk to you about…." She began hesistantly.

"Hmm…what is it?" her mother pulled the sheer curtains shut, filtering out some of the bright sunlight.

"I know about that boy."

"What boy?"

"Your second son."

Her mother whirled around, "What are you talking about!"

"You can't lie to me mother. I've always known!"

Her mother curled her hands into shaking fists, "I. DO. NOT. HAVE. ANOTHER SON."

Katrina looked her mother in the eyes; she could tell she touched a nerve, "Do you think you could hide something like that from me? I may have been young, but I was not a stupid child."

"Katrina. That child was an abomination! He was disposed of; there is no place on this earth for a creature like that!"

Her mother's words stung Katrina's heart.

"You're wrong. I saved him. I named him, I asked the nurse to take him somewhere else, somewhere safe."

Her mother's eyes widened, "You didn't…How dare you. THAT WAS NOT YOUR DECISION TO MAKE KATRINA! That horrible disfigured arm…there is NO HUMAN on the earth like that" she cringed at the memory.

"HOW COULD YOU BE SO CRUEL! Judging an INFANT on his appearance! Did you even look at his face!"

"I DIDN'T NEED TO!" her mother roared as she knocked over the table in anger, "I KNEW HE HAD TO DIE. I WAS DISGUSTED TO BE RELATED TO SUCH A MONSTER!"

Katrina drew back from her mother; this was taking the worst possible route...she hadn't expected such a fierce reaction.

"How do you even know he's alive..? There are hundreds of children his age here."

Katrina looked away, "I didn't at first, all these years I was worried that he didn't survive, but I saw him at the market today. He uses the name I gave him, he has your face, and father's eyes." She paused, "And I saw his arm, it looks different, but it was definitely him."

Katrina's mother was breathing heavily; this revelation shook her to her very core. She was repulsed by the existence of her third child. Years ago, when she was much younger; Delia Evans had a perfect life…a wonderful husband and two beautiful children with a third on the way. The day that third child was born, was the worst day of her life. She spent months caring for her unborn child and could not wait for him to join their family, but on the day of his birth she wanted nothing to do with him. Delia was shocked and disgusted; she immediately instructed for the disposal of the abomination and announced a miscarriage. After that, she refused to try for another child out of the fear it would turn out like…him…

Delia shook her head, it couldn't be true. Katrina was right, she had never actually looked at the boy's face, but who could blame her? All she saw was that horrible arm, and that was all it took for her to decide that this child cannot live.

"Katrina. I FORBID you from seeing that boy again. You will NOT be seen near him."

Katrina gaped at her mother, "You can't stop me! This is MY choice; nothing you say will stop me. For so many years I'd feared his death…you won't understand…" she trailed off, tears running down her cheeks.

Katrina turned and charged out of the room, "I'M GOING TO FIND HIM."

"Katrina! KATRINA! STOP RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" Delia screeched after her daughter, but it was too late. Katrina had sprinted out of the house and disappeared around a corner.

…

Allen Walker pressed a handkerchief to his left eye; it wouldn't stop bleeding.

_Did this always happen when akuma were around?_

They had gotten back to the place where they found the battle remnants, but no akuma seemed to show up. Lenalee and Lavi were searching the town using themselves as bait to lure the akuma away from the crowds of people. Victoria and Revy were nearby, alert and ready for an attack. They had unpacked the talismans in their bags and were poised to imprison the akuma when it showed up.

Allen sat on a large brick that had long dislodged itself from the crumbling building and lay half buried in the hard ground. Behind him stretched thick woods, which he found unsettling and turned away from it.

Allen pulled the cloth away from his eye and saw that it had stopped bleeding, he breathed a soft sigh of relief, maybe the akuma had gone.

THUMP.

THUMP THUMP.  
THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP…

Allen cried out in pain and lurched off the brick, keeling over on the ground. He clutched at his left eye, where three gears had appeared and were whirring rapidly. Allen's eye rolled madly in his head searching for the akuma it could not see.

"WALKER! WALKER GET AWAY FROM THERE!" Revy screamed at the young exorcist.

Allen looked up and pushed off the ground, but froze midway. He heard a soft noise behind him from the darkness of the trees. He slowly turned; out of the thicket a thin woman appeared, she cocked her head to the side and grinned maliciously. Allen stared in horror, he could see above her head something was there. It had the vague form of a human, a twisted terrifying image wrapped in chains with black tears streaming down its face. Allen couldn't move, his mind begged his frozen legs to run, but they refused.

With an earsplitting grating noise, the akuma pulled out of the woman's body and formed into a massive spherical machine with cannons covering every inch. Allen's eyes widened as the akuma's soul screamed in agony.

"HELP….ME….HELP ME EXORCIST!"

Allen couldn't breathe, he had no idea that this is what the akuma would be like. The soul was screaming in his head; Allen felt as though his skull would shatter. He clapped his hands to his ears but couldn't bring himself to look away from the creature in front of him.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU STANDING THERE FOR!" a familiar female voice cried at Allen.

He jerked out of his trance as a cloaked figure leapt over his head from the building behind him and charged at the akuma. At the same moment Allen felt a sharp yank at his right shoulder as someone threw him backwards.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY YOU IDIOT!" another voice yelled.

The cloaked figure threw her arms out in front of her, and in each hand she clutched a fist-sized glass bottle filled with a dark substance. She crossed her arms in front of her and drew a wide arc with both hands scattering a red, sand-like substance in the air in front of her. The sand seemed to hang in the air for a moment as she threw the bottles at the ground and thrust her arms in front of her.

"ACTIVATE!"

The sand rippled in the air and shot towards the akuma and embedded itself into the creature's metallic exterior. The girl twisted her hands and clenched them into fists; the akuma's mouth widened as it was crushed into dust. Allen stared as the chains coiled around the akuma's soul crumbled away to reveal a small girl smiling as she vanished.

BOOM.

An explosion from behind Allen lurched him forward. He spun around to see what had caused it; the person who had grabbed him from behind stood in front of the flaming remains of another akuma. Two glass bottles lay at his feet. Victoria and Revy clutched broken talismans, which had shattered from the force of the explosion.

"Some exorcist you are kid, standing there like you'd never seen an akuma before." Came the female voice behind Allen.

Allen turned, the girl shook the hood of her cloak off; long light brown hair tumbled down past her shoulders. She grinned at him mockingly.

"You…you're the exorcist in this area?" Victoria spoke up sharply.

"Exorcists," the other figure corrected, "we've been keeping the akuma out of here for years."

The girl walked over to the other figure who pushed back his hood revealing almost identical features as the female exorcist.

"As you can see," the girl spoke, "We're twins. We share our innocence, it reacts differently for us, but it's still one.

The boy turned to Allen, " As for you, I've been watching you since you got here, you are one sucky exorcist… have you even DONE this before?"

Allen couldn't speak, he stared at the two in front of him; it was unmistakable.

"Alexis….? Leopold…..?" he asked weakly.

The boy blinked, "Excuse me…? Who's that?"

_It can't be….they aren't supposed to be real…_

Alexis and Leopold stood in front of him, looking down at Allen with confused expressions on their faces.

"Are you talking to us?" the girl laughed, "I don't know any Alexis or Leopold, do you?"

Her brother shook his head.

"My name is Callista. And this is Luke."

Allen sat on the ground dumbfounded; these two looked exactly like Alexis and Leopold. Allen was so convinced that he had created them from his subconscious, this didn't make any sense.

"ALLEN!"

Allen looked over to the source of the voice; Katrina stood at the edge of the battle scene.

"You…." Allen began, but she cut him off.

"We need to talk."

…

Okay, so enough of this for now. That went on longer than I had expected, but I couldn't find a good place to stop, so I kept going. Took me probably over a month to write this slowly…longest chapter by far… It's going in a completely different direction now I suppose, but I've always wanted to write about Allen's real family, as it's never addressed in the series. Anyway, review please; let me know if this is going bad…

P.S. I'm not very good with picking names…I had to google british names LOL… ah well..


	8. Chapter 8

Yo! It's been a while! I've actually had most of this chapter written for months, but I never got around to finishing it… Meanwhile I have started another story LOL… yes bad planning on my part. Well whatever, my other story is for kingdom hearts, in case you're interested. On to the story!

* * *

"_ALLEN!"_

_Allen looked over to the source of the voice; Katrina stood at the edge of the battle scene._

"_You…." Allen began, but she cut him off._

"_We need to talk."_

_

* * *

_

Allen stood as Katrina picked her way through the wreck, heading towards the exorcist. Victoria and Revy exchanged confused glances; they had never seen this woman before. Callista and Luke stood back watching the scene unfold impassively.

"Allen, I need to talk to you…" Katrina began.

"How do you know my name…?" Allen asked suspiciously.

Katrina smiled in response, "How do I know? Because I named you."

Allen stared in shock; if this woman named him, then she must be his mother…but she's too young. Allen's mind raced, trying to come up with a role that would fit the woman standing before him, but before he could come to a conclusion, his thoughts were scattered.

THUMP.

THUMP THUMP.

_No…not again…_

Allen doubled over onto the ground clutching his left eye.

_More akuma…_

"Allen? What's wrong?" Katrina's concerned voice called to him from far away.

"Walker!" Revy grabbed Allen's arm and hauled him to his feet and called for Victoria to contact Lavi and Lenalee. But before she could touch the golem, a pair of familiar voices resounded from around a crumbling corner.

"ALLEN!"

"REVY! VICTORIA!"

Lavi and Lenalee burst from behind the large building and skidded to a halt in front of the group.

"There's more akuma coming this way!" Lenalee cried, "the Earl has sent an army in response to the innocence…he somehow caught wind of it…"

"Yea, and those damn Noah will probably show up too…There's no way we can hold up against them as we are, I've already called Headquarters for back up." Said Lavi.

Lenalee finally looked around, taking in the others on the scene, "…Who are you all…?"

"Miss Lee, allow me to explain," said Revy, "these two," he gestured towards Callista and Luke, "are the innocence holders; Callista and Luke."

"Two?" Lavi said sharply, "I thought there was only one?"

"You're right." Callista responded, "there IS only one. Luke and I share the innocence."

"Sharing innocence?" Lenalee asked, "I've never heard of something like that…"

"Well, there's no time to talk about it now, we've got more important things to worry about…Allen, I think you should get out of here. You definitely are not prepared for this." Said Lavi.

Allen pressed a hand to his eye, "No! I can do it! I want to help!"

Lenalee shook her head, "Allen, we can't risk you getting hurt again. Don't worry about us; we can handle it until the others arrive, especially since we have these two with us now."

Allen glared at the ground; he felt completely useless…how could he let Lenalee go into battle before him? Wasn't he supposed to protect her? He knew he was being stubborn, and he knew there was nothing he could do to help in his current state.

_I'd probably make things worse…_

"Fine, I'll go this time, but next one, I'll be ready." He said firmly.

Lenalee smiled and nodded.

Lavi turned to Katrina, "I don't know who you are Miss, but you should get out of here as soon as you can…It's about to get dangerous."

Katrina shook her head, "I'm not going anywhere, not after I've finally found Allen."

Lenalee and Lavi looked to Allen, "What are you talking about…?" Lenalee asked.

Before anyone could offer some explanation, the ground began to rumble and an ear piercing screech echoed across the ruins. The akuma had arrived. A massive grey cloud of akuma rolled over the tops of the trees in the forest behind the ruins.

Lenalee activated her Dark Boots and took flight, cleanly slicing through the wave of level one akuma which had cleared the top of the forest.

"Excellent." Said Luke, as he pulled out several glass bottles from beneath his cloak, Callista grinned at her brother as she did the same, "Time to go!"

The twins charged through the cloud of akuma, leaving destruction in their wake.

Lavi turned to Victoria and Revy, "Take care of Allen." The two finders nodded and dragged an unwilling Allen off the site.

"I—WANT-TO…HELP!" Allen cried as he struggled against Revy's grasp.

"NO WALKER! You said yourself you would stay back this time!"

"I-KNOW!" Allen screamed, "BUT I DON'T CARE! I CANT JUST LEAVE THEM THERE!"

"Walker!" Victoria said fiercely, "The Bookman and Miss. Lee are trained exorcists! They have been fighting powerful akuma for years! This is nothing for them!"

Allen wrenched his arm out of Revy's hold, and threw a furious look at the finders before turning and marching off alone. Victoria and Revy hurried after him without a word. Victoria had said that to only make Allen leave, she knew that this was too much for Lavi and Lenalee, even with Callista and Luke's help, she wasn't even sure if they could hold out until the other exorcists arrived. She glanced back quickly, but the battle scene had created a cloud of dust and rubble making it almost impossible to see what was going on.

Katrina followed the three worriedly, she had no idea what was going on, all she knew was that she was not letting Allen out of her sight again. Katrina's mind raced as she tried to piece together what she had seen and heard.

_What's an exorcist? It's not like those...people who take demons out of people's bodies is it? Like possessed people? …Whatever it is, it looks dangerous…_

She looked at Allen, he was marching furiously ahead of them without looking back.

_I don't want_ _Allen doing this…they said he could get hurt…_

Allen clenched his fists and listened as the gravel crunched loudly under his heavy steps. This wasn't fair, he had been doing better handling his innocence, they shouldn't keep him out of the battle like that. Even if he wasn't prepared, he could still help. Who cares if he gets hurt? It can't be worse than the last time…

"Walker!" called Revy.

Allen stopped suddenly and looked up, a large, red heart-shaped had door appeared in front of him. He blinked, it was just a door…there was nothing behind it, or around it. It was just a strange looking door in the middle of the deserted street. He hadn't noticed it before, being absorbed in his thoughts.

Allen reached out and grasped the curvy gold handles, and the doors burst open and a dark shape flew out at him.

"ALLLENNNN!" a high pitched voice cried, as a mess of dark hair crashed into Allen knocking him to the ground.

"Ugh…"Allen groaned as he propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at the person who was clutching him tightly. She was a skinny girl with spiky black hair and a strange dark complexion.

The girl looked up at Allen, grinned mischievously, and grabbed his head with both hands and kissed him on the mouth.

Allen's body froze, his mind seemed to have disconnected from his body momentarily. A few long seconds later, Allen's limbs responded to his screaming thoughts and he wrenched himself away from the strange girl. He scrambled away from her as Victoria and Revy leapt in front of him protectively.

"Who are you?" cried a shocked Allen, "What…what was THAT for?"

The girl giggled, "So it IS true, the Earl said you had lost your memories, but I wanted to see for myself." She licked her lips and giggled again.

For some reason Allen could not put his finger on, the girl's laugh sent chills through his body.

"Noah. What are you doing here Road Kamelot?"

"Like I said, I'm here to see my Allen!"

"YOUR Allen?" the boy said incredulously, "I don't even know who you ARE!"

"But I know you VERY well." Said Road as she giggled yet again, "The Earl has sent me to come get you Allen!" she sang as she danced around the finders towards the boy sitting on the ground. She reached a thin dark hand out to touch him, but was met with a barrier that separated him from her. Road straightened and turned around; Victoria and Revy had taken out their talismans and imprisoned her inside the barrier.

Road yawned; this wasn't even a challenge for her. Lifting one thin leg up she slammed her foot against the wall. Thin spindly cracks spiderwebbed along the surface underneath her foot before the entire barrier shattered, breaking the talismans and throwing the finders back.

"Victoria! Revy!" Allen cried.

Road laughed hysterically, "Did you really think something as puny and weak as a talisman could hold ME back?"

She reached down and grabbed Allen by the elbow as another heart shaped door appeared behind her. The doorway opened and she flung the boy through the opening.

"Bye bye finders! Bye bye sister!" she said mockingly and leapt through the doorway slamming the doors shut behind her.

"NO!" screamed Victoria, as she threw her weight against the door, but it crumbled at her touch and the pieces dissolved into nothing.

Katrina stared in shock, Allen was kidnapped right in front of her eyes, and she did nothing.

"We have to get the Bookman and Miss. Lee." Said Revy.

"We can't! Not until the other exorcists arrive! They are still fighting the akuma!" said Victoria frantically.

"The Noah may be planning to kill Walker! I will contact headquarters." Revy pulled out the golem, "Hello? Komui? We have a big problem, Road Kamelot was here, and she took Walker."

"WHAT?" came Komui's voice out of the tiny black golem, "How could you let this happen? Where were Lavi and Lenalee?"

"They are fighting the army of akuma sent here by the Earl! We tried to stop Road, but she easily broke through our talismans!" interjected Victoria.

"The other exorcists should be there very soon, you get Lavi and Lenalee to find Allen! We cannot let the Earl have him. He's in a very vulnerable state right now, the Earl will most likely try to convert Allen to the side of the Noah, we cannot let that happen no matter what. Find him. Do not return until you have him with you." Komui ordered.

"Yes sir." Said the finders in unison.

Katrina had been listening, but found herself unable to speak.

_Allen, Allen, whoever that girl was…she wants to kill Allen? No…I won't let that happen!_

She lunged at Revy and grabbed fistfuls of his cloak, "GET HIM BACK RIGHT NOW! GET ALLEN BACK! I WILL NOT LET HIM DIE!" she shook the man violently.

Revy pulled her hands off him gently but firmly, "Road addressed you as 'sister'. What did she mean by that Miss?"

Katrina stared, she hadn't even noticed. The only thing going through her mind was that Allen had been taken and that he was in danger.

"I…" she began, in truth she wanted to tell Allen first, but he was gone. Katrina drew herself up tall and said, "I am Allen Walker's elder sister. My mother is his mother; she was repulsed by his disfigured arm when he was born and thought him disposed of. But I had saved my little brother; I named him and sent him to a safe place to grow older."

Victoria and Revy exchanged surprised glances,

"Allen has…family?"

* * *

Right, sorry about the obnoxious delay. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope the next one won't be in as long a gap…not guaranteed though, my final exams are coming up…reviews please! :3


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